Thursday, July 30, 2009

I have been really busy this week with lots of projects! I am working on 3 hybrid projects (OK, one is a card so fairly easy, but the other 2 are mini albums so that means a lot of computer AND cutting time ;) ) plus getting a bunch of LOs done! Unfortunately, I cannot show anything quite yet, but I will soon.

I also got my page for round 3 of the Battle of the Creative Teams at DSA done. That was a painful one, because our team had to come up with a long list of items to scrap with, and we had to use them all on our page, and nothing else! But a day later I must say I'm quite happy with my page. ;)

Monday, July 27, 2009

Round 2 of the Battle of the CTs is over and our team of Big Pimpins rocked it again!We had to pick a musical theme, so we decided to each scrap our favorite song, and we also chose a common color scheme.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Wohooooo! I cannot believe it yet but I have a new lens!!!!!!!!I'd been thinking about getting a 50mm lens for several weeks, and yesterday DH brought me to try it out. We tried both the f/1.8 and the f/1.4. And then... we got the 1.4!!!!!!! The price was actually very good and we decided to go for the extra stop since I'm going to need it in low light situations.I'm in heaven right now!!! ;)So of course last night I scrapped some pictures taken with the new lens. This is for the new Roadmap to Scrap challenge at ScrapMatters, with these instructions:

I want you to choose 3 photos for this layout - ONE of them (the focal photo) should be turned B&W or sepia. Feel free to get creative with selective tinting, too, if you'd like.

Your background must be predominantly WHITE. It can have a subtle texture, but I want to see a white background!

Choose three more patterned papers to use as you wish on your layout.

The focal photo needs to be "hung" on the page from a metal embellishment of some sort.

You can embellish however you like, however, I want to see the same embellishment repeated at least three times. You can use different sizes of the same element, but the same one should show up a minimum of three times (think visual triangle!)

Please add some bling - I love bling and I've gotta see some of it on your page!

Title your page with a black or white alpha (or maybe a black AND white alpha).

Journal your page in a handwritten font of your choice and don't forget to include the date!

AND the good news is that the DigiChick is having a sale, everything is 30% off until Sunday - including these 2 beautiful new releases!!! ;)(and, if you're subscribed to TDC's newsletter, check out the 40% coupon for Amy's store until the end of the month!)

The hybrid challenge I'm hosting at ScrapMatters is finally live, so I can share the project I did for it. I'm so proud of it!! ;)

I used the gorgeous collab Tropical Escape by Erica Zane and Mari Koegelenberg for this frame. You can find it at ScrapMatters and the DigiChick.
I actually chose this kit because it matched beautifully the Prima flowers I had just bought! ;)
Physical supplies: wooden frame by Michael's, Mod Podge, glue dots, buttons from Wal-Mart, beads, Epson matte presentation paper, Prima flowers.
I got the idea for sticking the the beads on the buttons from the CK blog and I love the result! So pretty!

Artscow had a sale a couple of weeks ago: a deck of personalized cards, only $6.99 including shipping. Since my parents love to play cards, I thought this would make a perfect gift for them! I'll actually use it as a stocking filler for Christmas! :)

Here's the cards:

I decorated them with pictures of my parents, their initials and a few elements in theme. :)I used the gorgeous Jackpot by Britt-ish Designs for this - just perfect!

Now let's see if I can resist until Christmas to give them to my parents.. ;) I'm not sure when I'll see them, so it does look like I'll have to wait a few months.

We've been living in this house for a year and a half but we keep seeing new animals. :)Even though we'd spotted them before, this month was the first time we were able to take pictures of foxes.And recently we've seen herons too. I took a gorgeous picture of a fox and a heron (must scrap that soon!) and here's some closeups of just the heron. It's really a big bird! :)

Weeds and Wildflowers has a new reward system: you get a point for each challenge you take part in, and 10 points are worth a $10 GC!This is my first LO with the new system, it was a template challenge:

Credits:Template by sbairdPapers from A Better Me, Flowers from Playing with Wire - Spring, Stitching ABC's Burlap by Gina Marie HuffFont: My Own Topher

Monday, July 20, 2009

Along with 4 fellow CT members, I'm competing in the Battle of the CTs at DigiScrapAddicts for Amy Sumrall's fabulous team! We're the Big Pimpins and we rocked the first round.For the first assignment the team had to use negative space and pick a color theme: we picked the rainbow as our theme, but we did much more than that! We even coordinated our pages so that they all form a rainbow:

Friday, July 17, 2009

I know I haven't posted much this week, but this doesn't mean I haven't been scrapping! ;)I just cannot show the pages just yet, but there's one that I can show using the new collab by Mickey B Designs and Man in the Moon Designs, out today at ScrapMatters, Sprinkler Party:

I had lots of fun playing with whis colorful kit! And looked at that water filled alpha - adorable!!

Credits:Template by Jeni HopewellSprinkler Party by Mickey B Designs and Man in the Moon DesignsFont: Note this

There's also some GREAT news at ScrapMatters: there's a huge sale on all Christmas kits! AND there's many new Christmas kits coming out today too, and those are on sale as well!!!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Have you started thinking about a calendar for 2010 yet? If not, this is the right time! You don't want to do it at the last minute, when Christmas is coming and you have thousands of urgent things to do.Mari has a gorgeous set of CD calendar templates for you, to make things easier! It's such a nice idea for a Christmas gift, too!

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

I spent a lovely weekend out of town with DH - it was just great, only too short! I took Monday off and came home mid-afternoon. We really had a wonderful time (and I took 3 GB of pictures in just 2 days - crazy!!), but I have so many things to catch up with this week!

Friday I managed to squeeze in the pages for my June monthly summaries for the challenge at the DigiChick, using Mari's gorgeous Happiness kit - perfect for these summery, colorful pages.

This is now the 6th month I've done with these templates, and I am not in the least bit tired of them! They're just gorgeous!

Oh, some more news: I didn't make it in ScrapOrchard's CT, but I must confess I'm quite relieved! I entered the contest because I cannot resist a good competition, and I had so much fun playing along with those lovely kits, but I must say I'm more than happy with the CT spots I have. OK, I'd still love to land a couple more spots for my favorite designers (hello, Minna!) and would die for a spot at TDC (*sigh*), but for now I'm more than satisfied (*thrilled*, actually!) with the teams I'm on - each and every one of them was a dream come true! I wish I could do more for each of my designers, because I really love them all. Alas, my time is limited, and while I'm not overwhelmed by my CT spots, they sure keep me busy! :)

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

The final week of the CT contest at ScrapOrchard has arrived and I must say I'm glad it's over. It was tiring and nerve wracking, especially because I had to work on the assignments during the week, and with work and DH I was always worried I might not have time to do my best. Anyway, I posted my last page yesterday morning, and now I only have to wait until next Monday, when they announce the winners.

I don't love this page as much as the others I did for the contest.. I spent more time on it than I did on the others, too! :) I think because for the other weeks I had to stretch my creativity more, because I had to use kits I don't usually scrap with, so I ended up with pages that were totally me but not my usual pages at the same time.The gallery is bursting with talent so I don't think I'll make it, but I had a blast throughout the contest and I got to try out my style with fantasy kits too.